Operations Excellence and Lean Manager

Company Confidential

The Operational Excellence and Lean Manager will support plant operations in the development, 
planning and execution of Lean strategies and metrics providing support to various levels 
throughout the organization in order to clearly link project metrics to strategy objectives by using 
the Toyota Production System tools. This position will require an experienced Lean leader with 
manufacturing industry background. This position requires an individual that is able to facilitate 
and drive change in a fast paced and “ever changing” environment leveraging strong interpersonal 
skills. Key to success in this position is the ability to identify and drive operational improvements 
at all levels utilizing a very “hands on” approach to creating value and buy-in as the lead change 
facilitator for the plant’s Lean transformation

Job Responsibilities:

• Develop Lean manufacturing strategy for all manufacturing and distribution assets to 
ensure all NA facility’s objectives are met in the areas of safety, quality, profitability, waste 
reduction and team excellence. 
• This position will provide leadership / mentoring / training to all levels of the operation on 
the use and practice of Lean methodology and tools. 
• This position will have responsibility for identifying, planning and leading the execution 
Lean transformation events targeted towards improving the plant’s performance on safety, 
quality, delivery, inventory, and productivity (SQDIP) as well as establishing a solid 
foundation around 5S in the workplace with process, metrics, and ownership at all levels. 
• This position will require the ability to identify and analyze complex operational data from 
multiple disparate sources in order to synthesize actionable evidence of root cause or 
improvement opportunities.
• This position will focus on business performance improvements that yield zero accidents, 
defect free products, on demand and on time delivery, at the lowest cost by partnering 
with the plant’s process owners and champions to drive results. 
• This position will act as a key driver of change within the plant, supporting 
management/cross functional decisions by communicating the plant-wide changes to 
employees and helping them to learn, understand, adjust and grow with the business’s 
Lean transformation. 
• Expert proficiency in the use and implementation of Lean tools such as: Toyota Production 
System/Danaher Business System, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Value Stream Mapping, 
Business Process Reengineering, Total Quality Management, Kaizen, TAKT, Kanbans/Pull 
Systems, Single Piece Flow, Seven Wastes, 5S, Poka-Yoke, PDCA, Hoshin Kanri, Root Cause 
Analysis, Workshop Management, and KPI's.
• This is a key leadership as well as development role to grow within the operations 
organization worldwide. This role will be considered for future Management roles to 
include Supply Chain, Operations, Quality, Engineering, and Plant Manager roles. This 
position reports directly to the COO and is on the COO’s senior management staff for the 
business and will partner with the Global OpEx leader (Darren Taylor-Ridge) for joint lean 
strategies that are on-going in Europe and Asia operations today.

Other Scope of Role:

• Travel will be 50% of role – typically 4-5 days consecutively for business trips between
California, Arkansas, and Michigan
• Role can have a home base office out of our St Joseph, Michigan or Jonesboro, Arkansas 
plant locations as both sites can reach 5 of our 6 plants very easily. 

• Minimum 5-years of hands-on experience in production management for a manufacturing 
company with at least 3 years applying lean tools and training others.
• Results based Leadership style skill set with strong impact and influencing skills.
• Bachelors in Engineering preferred (ME, IE, other), or Operations Management
• Lean or Six Sigma certified
• Proficient in MS Office Suite, MS Access and MS Project a plus

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.